Days of desert heat

Midday heat. Photo: JH.

Monday, August 15, 2016. The weather is the story in New York right now, and has been for the past week. Heavy duty heat and humidity. Days and days of desert heat with the Real Feel hovering around 110. This past weekend, the weatherman briefly predicted thunderstorms to interrupt this torpor. But each time Mother Nature re-directed the winds to the west of us. Let’s hope the weatherman is way off on the prediction that we’re going to have another week of it.

Early in the week I went down to Brooks Brothers to pick up some necessities and then walked up Fifth Avenue to Michael's. I was amazed to see that St. Patrick's had undergone a cleaning, and looking sharp and brand new. A nice sight.

Across the street at Rockefeller Center was this enormous sculpture which at first I thought looked like an EAR. But after getting a closer look, I realized it was a swimming pool. The sculpture is called Van Gogh's Ear (2016) by Elmgree & Dragset; steel, fiberglass, stainless steel, lights; Courtesy of the artists and the K11 Art Foundation, Galerie Perrotin, Galleria Massimo De Carlo, and Victoria Miro Gallery. The exhibit is organized by the Public Art Fund and Tishman Speyer.

Then farther up the avenue I had to get a photo of Mr. Trump's house on 56th and Fifth. On the right of the photo is the St. Regis Hotel built in 1904 by John Jacob Astor IV, and across the street, the Coca-Cola Building which was for years known as the Columbia Pictures Building, number 711, by Columbia's founder and mogul Harry Cohn, who chose the number for good luck.

Last night I went down to Sette Mezzo to dine with an old friend, Dominique Kirby, in from London. Sette Mezzo was its busy Sunday self including Stephanie Krieger with Brian Stewart, Annette Tapert and Joe Allen, Herb and Jeanne Siegel, Tom Tisch and his mom; Maurice Sonnenberg with Soon-Yi and Woody Allen and a very attractive brunette.

Meanwhile, torpor or no, there’s a lot going on anyway. This year’s Breaking Parkinson’s, The Michael J. Fox Foundation’s annual golf outing, was held at the world-renowned Winged Foot Golf Club in Westchester. Honorary Co-chairs were Michael J. Fox and Edwin Levy. Co-chairs included MJFF Board members Ed Kalikow, Andy O’Brien, Bonnie Strauss and Peter Zaffino. Guests included approximately 175 of New York’s business leaders, tastemakers and members of the Parkinson’s community who gathered to play while raising $950,000 for Parkinson’s research. That was a record breaking amount for this event.

Catching up. Last July 9th, diplomatic leaders from the United Nations joined scientists from Ocean Sanctuary Alliance for a boat tour of Long Island’s thriving Shinnecock Bay Restoration Program, which serves as a model for the advancement of marine sanctuaries around the world.

Post-tour, the high profile group that included Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi of Italy and Ambassador Boguslaw Winid of Poland were hosted for dinner by Ms. Rosalind Walrath at her home in Southampton. Also in attendance were Ocean Sanctuary Alliance president Mark Newhouse and chair of the organization’s Board of Scientists Dr. Ellen Pikitch.

The Ocean Sanctuary Alliance is a partnership of UN Member States and leading oceanic scientists from around the globe dedicated to restoring and sustaining the world's oceans. Specifically, the group is working to conserve at least 10 percent of coastal and marine seas worldwide by 2020 – an international campaign known as 10X20. To become involved visit: oceansanctuaryalliance.org.

Mark Newhouse, executive vice president of Advance Publications and President, Board of Directors, Ocean Sanctuary Alliance and Deputy Ambassador for Oceans and Seas for Palau; Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi, Permanent Representative to the UN from Italy; and Ambassador David Roet, Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN from Israel.

Ambassador Walton Webson, Permanent Representative to the UN from Antigua and Barbuda, with his wife, Rosemary and two daughters.

Ambassador Fred Sarufa, Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN from Papua New Guinea; Ambassador Boguslaw Winid, Permanent Representative to the UN from Poland; and Ambassador Caleb Otto, Permanent Representative to the UN from Palau.

Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi, Permanent Representative to the UN from Italy; Ellen Pikitch, Ph.D., Board member of the Ocean Sanctuary Alliance and Professor at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Stony Brook University; and Rosalind Walrath, Treasurer, Board of Directors, Ocean Sanctuary Alliance.

Stephanie Newhouse and Ambassador Peter Thomson, Permanent Representative to the UN from Fiji and President of the UN General Assembly.

Looking forward, looking up. On Sunday, September 25th, from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. — rain or shine — The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) will be presenting "The Edible Academy Family Garden Picnic,” a celebration of organic gardening and cooking for the whole family.

This is one of the great family events of New York, held in a fantastic environment for everyone. But what really makes it special is how the whole family shares in its pleasures. It’s an afternoon of outdoor discovery in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden. There’s a special guest, Chef Carla Hall, co-host of ABC’s The Chew. There are live cooking workshops, and a delicious picnic featuring Carla Hall’s Southern Kitchen chicken. There’s a wonderful selection of kitchen crafts; there’s organic vegetable gardening, honey harvesting, apple pressing, tree climbing, plus live music, and just being out in the middle of the forests right here in New York City.

Carla Hall at last year's NYBG's Edible Academy Family Garden Picnic.

The Chairmen of this year's Edible Academy Family Garden Picnic are Noreen and Ahmar Ahmad, Christina and Laurent de Marval, Emma and Todd Goergen, Annie and James Lansing, Jennifer and Beau Lescott, Amory and Sean McAndrew, Allison and Roberto Mignone, Kimberly and Jean Putzer, Kate Solomon and David Wasserman, and Julia and Ted Weld. The Honorary Chairman is Jill Joyce. The Founding Chairmen are Julie and Nick Sakellariadis. The Honorary Chairman of the Edible Academy Committee is Mario Batali.

It’s a fund-raiser but children of all ages will enjoy on a Sunday afternoon with the family. Proceeds of the event support the Garden's Edible Academy, which is the hub of the children's organic vegetable gardening program.

The Edible Academy, and its planned state-of-the-art facility, will soon be significantly expanding the edible gardening program opportunities, so that twice as many children, parents, and teachers (from 50,000 to 100,000 annually) can learn how to grow organic fruits and vegetables, as well as make the important connections among plants, gardening, nutrition, and healthy living.